Emerald Justice
by shells210
Summary: Catherine Grace Jordan is on her way to joining the league. After years in space she's returned to earth to live with her own species, and her fellow Green Lantern/legal guardian Hal Jordan. But when the League treats C.G. and her friends like they can't handle themselves they set out to prove them wrong. Who knew they'd find a clone, blow up a building, and start their own team?
1. Independance Day: Part 1

**Emerald Justice**

* * *

_It was on the eve of the darkest of nights, almost five years in the past, that the beloved green lantern of sector 2813 met his end at the hands, or claws at the case was, of a Kla'or'rin. Nasty things those, stomping about five feet from the ground on skinny legs with skinny bodies that looked to much like a greyhound to be healthy._

_The lantern that fell at its long claws was called Ran pronounced 'run'. And when Ran died, the only living human on the planet(amongst Tameranians, Martians, and Aloi to name a very small number) was chosen by his ring to guard that sector. The human, a girl who's name had long been lost on earth, was granted its power at an age younger than would have been expected, and as such her status was changed to the green lantern of her home sector, and put into the care of a resident member of the corps known to Oa as Hal Jordan._

_The girl resumed her former identity as a citizen of earth and joined the fight for the light at her caretakers side. She took up her former name, the final gift of her parents, and stole away the title of Jordan._

_Her name was Cathrine Grace._

* * *

July 4th, 14:00 est

The day had dawned just as usual, and gone by coast city with little more than a robbery by the villain Iceberg, quickly thwarted by the younger of the cities resident heroes. The day saved she vanished into the blue skies above the city without fear, not to be seen for some time. She was, and would be, busy. For you see,

"Today it the day."

"You're really that excited Seige?" Hal asked, flying next to his charge several hundred feet above the Appalachian mountains, smirking at her through the wind.

"Of course! We never get together with the others, I hardly ever get to see Kid Flash and Robin, never mind the Speedy and Aqualad. We're almost in the league," She stated, grinning widely from behind the domino mask as she pushed up their speed several more miles per hour, glowing brightly as she shot across the sky, hair lashing out almost threateningly behind her.

"Come on kid, you're already in the corps, is the league that big of a deal?" He questioned, angling them slightly further south as they cleared the mountains and approached the capital of the country.

"Yes, it is. It's an earth group, not some intergalactic police agency or whatever you want to refer to us as," his partner retorted, throwing her weight to the side and spinning in the air, showing off a bit.

The elder lantern shook his head, both of them descending rapidly towards the intricately designed Hall of Justice, cameras flashing in their hidden eyes. Their uniforms, both the standard of the corps, would be forever preserved in the data stored on the technology, their expressions frozen in time as the two brunettes landed lightly on the ground beside the other heroes and their protégés, falling into step beside the bats.

"Centrals still late?" She asked, tilting her face towards the younger boy at her right.

"Aren't they always?" He replied, glancing behind them just as the familiar 'I knew we'd be the last ones here!' made itself heard a split second before the the yellow and red blurs focused into the familiar figures of the Missouri speedsters, standing side by side as they took their places to the left of the lanterns.

"It's almost ironic how often the fastest men alive are never actually on time," she commented, grinning impishly at the younger red head.

"It's his fault! Don't blame me C.G.!" Kid Flash exclaimed, gesturing towards his uncle who merely shook his head at the yellow clad heroes blame.

"You're so weird," Robin informed them, shaking his head at their antics.

"Oh, says the boy who spends his free time finding new ways to make English teacher shudder," C.G. Retorted, rolling her eyes from behind the white film of her mask.

"Is that batman?" Asked one of the civilians as the heroes began their approach, starting the excited chatter of the onlookers.

"Nooo," C.G. Mumbled, leaning closer to robin, "it's clearly superman, don't you see the big red S on his chest?" The younger hero elbowed her sharply in the ribs, barely suppressing his laugh.

"Oh! I see Flash, and Flash jr!"

"His names Speedy-"

"No, Speedy's Green Arrows sidekick"

"Well that makes no sense"

"Ready to see the inner sanctum?" Said hero inquired, tilting his head towards his excited partner.

"Born that way."

"I am glad we're all here," Aqualad admitted, smiling at his friends.

"Have all five sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?" Kid asked, practically bouncing in ace at the only girls side.

"Don't call us side kicks," speedy snapped surprisingly harshly, facing forward proudly, "not after today."

"Sorry," he admitted, "first time at the hall, I'm a little overwhelmed."

"You're overwhelmed, freeze was underwhelmed, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" Robin questioned almost bitterly, dragging an exaggerated sigh from his female friend as they stepped inside. Almost immediately the boy wonder retracted his statement, staring around the heroes in awe along with the younger red head. C.G. Remained unaffected, having visited the hall on her first tour of earth.

The five were met at a large door labeled 'authorized access only', stopping before it as it slid open to reveal Red Tornado and the Martian Manhunter.

"Robin, Speedy, C.G., Aqualad, Kid Flash, welcome," he greeted, turning around and leaving the others to fallow them as the five were lead through a tour of the Hall. They stopped in the library, and idly the younger lantern wondered if they would be zeta-ing up to the Watch Tower or if the leaguers would keep them earth bound for the time being.

"Make yourselves at home," Flash offered, spreading his arms out in welcome. Three of the four boys did as advised, dropping into the chairs of the library while the lantern opted for crossing her legs and sitting on air, and the young archer stayed standing, looking more than a little nonplussed.

"Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of five ice villains attacking on the same day," batman announced, "we shouldn't be long." The girl watched in mild interest as the ceiling opened and out dropped a spherical scanner, announcing the leaguers present.

"That's it?" Snarled Speedy, stalking up to the surprised heroes while the other four watched, none of them entirely jovial at being left behind, but most staying as they were, though the girl did land on her feet, sending a curious glance to her caretaker and receiving a bewildered shrug in reply. "You promised us a real look inside," he continued, "not a glorified backstage pass."

"It's a first step," Aquman reasoned, "you have been granted access few others get."

"Oh really?" The youth countered, gesturing the tourists plastered against the glass display of the room above their heads, "who cares what side if the glass we're on?!"

"Roy, you just need to be patient," his mentor advised, stepping towards him.

"What I need, it respect! Their treating us like kids!" He snapped, turning to his still mostly seated friends, "worse, like deserve better than this."

The boys exchanged startled, uncertain looks while the girl frowned, shifting around on her feet before walking forward and leaning on the back of Aqualads chair.

"Roy, take a breath. You're digging a grave here hun, anger isn't gonna help. Reason is," she stated, tone dropping calmly as she tried to talk him down.

"You're kidding," he stated, though he had lowered his voice, "you're playing their game? Why? Because you think they play fair? To day, was supposed to be thee day," he growled, chopping his hand down in aggravation. "Step one in becoming full fledged members of the league!"

"Well sure," Wally agreed, sitting forward in confusion, "but I thought step one was a tour of HQ."

"HQ?" The lantern asked, brow pinching together as she opened her mouth, being beaten by the archer to explain.

"Except the Hall isn't the Leagues real HQ."

"Of course not, it's the watch tower," C.G. Agreed, watching the startled and less than pleased looks the two green-clad heroes were receiving.

"I bet they never told you three it's just a false front for tourists, and a pits top for catching zeta beam teleporter tubes to the real thing, an orbiting satellite!"

The Arrow and the Latern turned to face the bat, both of them looking somewhat apologetic.

"I know, I know," the archer muttered, shrugging almost helplessly, "but I though maybe we could make an exception? I mean, Catherine's known since she got to earth."

"Yeah, but she had to stay there while we sorting out adoption papers," Hal pointed out, gesturing the younger lantern and drawing more attention to her than she liked.

"You are not helping your cause here son, stand down," the Atlantean advised, stepping past the other mentors, "or-

"Or what! You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son! I'm not even his!" Speedy shouted, glaring at Green Arrow darkly. "I thought I was his partner but, not anymore," resolve rang out in his voice as the eldest sidekick tore the yellow cap from his head and threw it to the ground, shocking those present. "Guess they're right about you four, you're not ready."

He passed his friends swiftly as he exited, leaving the stunned protégés to stars after his retreating figure.

Before they could properly react an alarm sounded from the computer and the man of steel appeared on the big screen, drawing the adults to it.

"Superman to Justice League, there's been an explosion at Project Cadmus, it's on fire." He announced.

"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus," the bat admitted, "this may present the perfect opportunity to-"

"Zatara to Justice League," a third voice interrupted, calling attention to the magician on the split screen, "the sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Atem to block out the sun, requesting full league response."

"Superman?"

"It's a small fire," he stated, "local authorities have it under control."

"Then Cadmus can wait. All leaguers rondevue at Zataras coordinates, Batman out." The dark knight ordered as the younger generation approached receiving a stern, "stay put."

"What?" his partner objected, disbelief clear in his voice, "why?"

"This is a league mission,"

"You're not traine-"

"Since when!" Exclaimed the ginger, throwing his arms out while the lanterns began a staring contest, Hal clearly wishing to keep his charge in the Hall and the girl obviously wishing to object as the two stepped away from the arguing pairs.

"You need to stay." He stated.

"I can help!" C.G. Objected.

" I know, but you know those three, they're going to get in trouble," he reached forward and placed a hand on her shoulder carefully, "keep an eye on them alright?"

She sighed just as Batman gave the final order to stay put, glaring at the other lantern darkly.

"We'll get Chinese tonight okay?" He offered, clearly bribing her with her preferred dining choice.

"Just go already," she snapped, relenting and retreating to stand beside her friends as the adults zeta'd away to wherever it was they were needed.

Kid Flash scoffed the moment they were gone, grimacing.

"When we're ready? How we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like, like sidekicks," he growled out the hated word, pacing as he ranted and slashing out with his hands on borderline meta-speed.

"My mentor," Aqualad muttered quietly, looking to the ground, " my king. I thought he trusted me."

"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics! They've got a secret HQ. in space! The only one who knew is Seige!" The ginger exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, I thought they trusted you enough to say," she commented, frowning after her partner as she leaned back against the large computer frame.

"I know you would have told us C.G. But the league did not. What else aren't they telling us?" She could see the betrayal in her younger friends faces, and she felt it more than justified. Perhaps the archer had been correct.

"I have a better question," Robin countered, "why didn't we leave with Speedy?" His inquiry brought them all down further, even Catherine, who was more irritated that no one had bothered to fill in her friends than she was that she too would have been left out if the loop if not for the time Hal had needed to find a larger apartment when she had first arrived back on her home planet.

"What is Project Cadmus?" Aqualad asked, looking up once more at the youngest and second eldest heroes in the room, both at the computer.

"Don't know," the dark haired boy replied before a familiar smirk slid across his face, "but I can find out."

He turned back to the expensive keyboard, shooing the brown haired girl away before he hagan typing quickly.

'Access denied' the feminine voice of the computer announced, causing the caped teen to laugh.

"Wanna bet?" He challenged, snapping the keys down with practiced efficiency while the others watched the screen real into code.

"Wow, how, are you doing that?" Kid Flash questioned, staring at the screen with his companions as the youngest member smirked with a proud declaration of it being the 'same system as the Batcave.' Switching the denial to full access.

"Alright," he announced, "Project Cadmus, genetics lad here in DC. That's all there is... But if Batman's suspicious, maybe we should investigate?"

"Solve their case before they do?" Catherine Grace asked, looking at her companions slowly.

"Is would be poetic justice," Kaldur agreed.

"Hey! they're all about justice," laughed the hacker, starting to grin.

"Ah, but they said stay put," the Atlantean relented.

"For the blotting out the sun mission not this!" Insisted the boy wonder.

"Wait," ordered KF, "are you going to Cadmus?" His hand dropped onto the younger teens shoulder and forced him to turn, his face slowly lighting up, "because if you're goin, I'm goin."

" we are so grounded when this is over," C.G. pointed out, dropping and arm over both boys shoulders as they faced the dark skinned boy, identical grins spreading across their faces as they visually pleaded with him to join in.

"Just like that we're a team on a mission."

"We didn't come for a play date."

Kaldur smirked and Catherine grinned.

So very grounded.


	2. Independance Day: Part 2

**Flashplayer stopped working for a few days but it's all good for now.**

**Check out my other story with C.G. in it, 'Truth and Many, Many Lies', or you could check out 'Feathers, Tourist, and The Colors of The World'. Both are pretty good.**

* * *

"_Catherine!" the woman exclaimed, staring at the young girl sitting on the concrete floor before her, surrounded by dozens of puppies of all different breed and coloration. All of them were bouncing excitedly, licking the child wherever they could reach and clearly in love._

"_Cathy," the man standing beside the woman laughed, observing his daughter interact with the Pups, "you can only pick one."_

"_But Daddy they all want to come with us!" she objected, wrapping two tiny arms around the three closest that she could reach, looking up at her parents pleadingly._

* * *

_"**At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst."**_

_**Aristotle**_

* * *

Sirens split the air as water rained down from the hose of the crimson fire engine, smoke winding out of the building as the young heroes approached the building, the lantern reaching the area first and pausing in an ally to take stock of the situation and the men inside the burning structure, shouting for help and waving at the firemen.

The firemen called out reassurance just before an explosion rocked the building and the speedster took off, using his built up momentum to shoot up the side of the wall and grab the men, hauling them up to the roof before his traction vanished and he dropped down, yelping as he dangled from the window bellow.

"It's what's his name! Flashboy!" Exclaimed one of the firemen, arm raised to point out the less than descrete sidekick dangling precariously off the edge of the window sill.

"So smooth," Robin joked, standing next to the Atlantean as I floated above them, sighing quietly at the boys antics.

"Does he always have to run ahead?" Aqualad asked, frowning at Wally, as if he didn't already known the answer. Kid always jumps in first, and always arrives the very last, end of story.

"Of course he does, you know how he is," I responded, touching down on the ground.

"We need a plan." He stated, looking to the no longer present boy wonder, faltering when he saw the little ninja-in-training was gone.

"Don't be so surprised," I advised, patting his shoulder before leaving the ground and flying ahead, passing Robin as he ran up the latter, cackling madly as he went.

"You've fought the joker one to many times my dear," I informed him, wrapping an arm around the red heads limb and hauling him up with the assistance of the acrobat, watching Aqualad run forward and commandeer the water of the hoses while the other two began snooping, pulling open drawers and hacking computers before Kaldur stepped in, giving the younger boys and the myself a very dry look.

"Appreciate the help," he stated sarcastically, getting a mere 'you handled it' from Robin while Wally and I continued riffling through papers. He began to walk away, and I fell into step beside him and checked into the glass cases while my companion looked about the corridors.

The entire space was strange, no flames taking up oxygen on the upper level. There was no reason for us to hurry then, we could take out sweet time exploring the area. The cases were display mostly, showing small mechanical devices and pictures of other things that were either successes or failures, I wasn't really sure as none of the were labeled past numbers and letters combined.

"Something is wrong," Kaldur announced when KF appeared beside us, frowning at the elevator the other boy was staring at. I wasn't sure why, whatever Kal was looking at wasn't there for me to see, let alone Wally.

"Elevators should be locked down." He stated, not even swaying when the younger boy nearly fell in his rush to join us, grabbing his friends arm to keep himself up before sprinting past all three of his older companions, staring intently at the lift.

"This is wrong," Robin started, typing into his wrist-top computer, frowning in confusion, "thought so," he mumbled when whatever he suspected had been confirmed, "this is high-speed express elevator, it doesn't belong in a two story building."

"Neither does what I saw," the Atlantean said, stepping forward and surprising me when he pried open the doors barehanded.

Well that was odd. Maybe Bats had been right to be suspicious of this place? It was certainly looking to be an odd case, Kal seeing things and an unexplained elevator in a short building.

"I forgot Atlanteans are that strong," I admitted, floating off the ground and leaning over my friends head as I used his shoulders for leverage, "shit that goes down far."

"And that's why need an express elevator," Robin looked down before shooting a cable up to the top and launching himself down, the speedster and the Atlantean following quickly as they grabbed the cable and slid down, leaving me to fly down behind them until the batbrat ran out of line, much to his own surprise.

"Sublevel 26? How far does this place go?"

"We could find out?" Wally commented, looking at the lantern, me, as I shook my head, not wanting to drag them further down and risk not catching something important up here.

"Let's start here, we might miss something if we skip it," I pointed out, hovering at Robins side and watching him hack through the security until it was disabled and Aqualad could freely open the doors. We stepped in and stopped immediately, staring around them at the expansive stretch of hallway, lined with grey and red structures that design I could not guess.

"Welcome to Project Cadmus."

"Roomy," I commented, flying up above to scan the corridors quickly. Apparently the speedster had the same idea as he took off running, against the objection of our fishy friend. I flew after him quickly when he let out a shout of distress, feet skidding out from under him as a pack of some kind of oversized mammoths stomped through the hallway. They nearly trample the speedster and almost knocking me out of the air as I flew past them, coming close to knocking one if the tiny monkey like things perched atop the back of the elephants before careening into the hard material of the wall and dropping to the floor beside one of my companions. I groaned quietly as I held my shoulder, pain rolling off of it. It wasn't broken, or dislocated thankfully, but hell if it didn't hurt.

I sat up and watched the being walk past, leaning against the wall and looking at my friends through the legs of the gargantuan beings. They cleared the hallway a few moments later and the boys appeared at my side, Kid Flash giving me a hand up.

Robin hacked the next door while the others stood guard, I took the time to roll my shoulder a few times as we waited. When it did open, and we did turn around, none could say we were unsurprised.

The walks were lined floor to ceiling with pale blue cylinders, each with an odd looking creature stored insider, electricity sparking across the insect like things and a large, sparkling blue orb made itself seen above our heads.

"This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the rest of the world," Kid concluded, staring around us in awe, "the real Cadmus isn't on the grid. It generates its own power with these...things. Must be what they're bred for."

"It kind of reminds me of the lower caves," I commented, walking beside Aqualad as I observed them. It really was quite like the deeper caverns of my childhood, the few times I had seen them, bio-luminescence and power radiating through the area.

"but your caves glowed with crystals instead of living beings right?" Wally confirmed, standing beside me. I nodded.

"Even the name is a clue, the Cadmus of myth created a new race by sewing dragon's teeth into the earth," only Kaldur would know that, the myth sounded Atlantean in origin anyways, and he really was smart.

"And this Cadmus creates new life too," Robin strode over to a computer console and plugged in, hacking rapidly. "They call them 'genomorphs'," he announced, reading quickly, "whoa, look at the stats on these things! Super strength, telepathy, razor claws, these things are living weapons!"

"They're engineering an army," Wally said, looking over at his best friend, "but for who?"

"Wait, there's something else, project Kr," the Boy Wonder reached up and started typing the holograph, glaring at the screen when it didn't light green, "Augh, the files triple encrypted, I-I can't-" he was cut off with a dark order of 'don't move!' Bringing us sidekick's attention to our left and the man running in among a pack of genomorphs, dressed in blue with gold helmet adorning his head.

"Wait," he paused where he was, staring at the four of us in clear recognition, "Robin, Aqualad, C.G., Kid Flash?"

"Least he got your name right," Robin jabbed, turning back to his work and apparently trusting his friends to watch his back. Not that we wouldn't, but you'd think the little Bat would be as paranoid as his mentor.

Apparently not.

"I know you," Aqualad said standing in front of the boys and me, "Guardian, a hero."

"I do my best," he admitted, almost sounding modest for a guy that had all the evidence pointing to his working as a villain, or with one if nothing else. I was fairly alarming to be honest, he didn't seem like a lot of the guys I'd faced. But then again, Sinestro had been a GL before he joined the Dark Side.

Wally jumped in as-per-usual.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I think that's my question boys," Guardian replied, ignoring my objection at being grouped with them. It wasn't that I didn't like them, they were my boys, but I was very much female, thank you very much. Oh look, the Guardian was chief of security. And we were trespassing.

"Well," I mumbled, stepping back toward Robin, "I'm just about welmed." He nodded in agreement, scoffing slightly when the older man offered to call the League and sort everything out. We knew what we were doing, we didn't need a damn babysitter.

"You think the League's going to approve of you breeding weapons?" Kid asked in disbelief, apparently confusing the Guardian.

"Weapons, what are you…what have I-" he grimaced, and the little thing on his shoulder, which was actually cute in a creepy way, started glowing at the horn and in half a second his personality took a complete 180, "Take them down hard! No mercy!" he shouted.

At his order the creatures lunged at us, moving quick in their reptilian/simian way, claws dragging gauges in the metal as they attacked.

Before we could react Robin had leapt over Kaldur and thrown a smoke pallet down, drawing up a screen of invisibility and flying away on a grappling gun. Wally made good use of the walls around us before I lost visibility of him and was tackled by one of the Genomes. It was trying to rip out my arm, sharp teeth gnashing as another snatched hold of my arm, trying to twist it away before I managed to blast it off and slip out from under the other, darting behind the electric tubes and out of their reach. I shot off a formless burst of energy at the Guardian and one of the creatures attacking Kid Flash before my feet left the ground and I was flying towards where Robin had disappeared to.

Kid Flash darted past me just as a Genomorph tackled me out of the air, slamming into a tube and not only hitting my injured shoulder against a very hard surface, but also getting me shocked pretty badly before Aqualad jumped in, hitting the thing off of me and grabbing my hand. We took off after the boys, me still trying to get all of my nerves working and Kal making sure I didn't fall behind.

Kid ran ahead, once again, and I passed Aqualad, holding onto his hand and pulling him off the ground to fly past a straggler that the dark skinned boy kicked in the skull, effectively knocking it out.

They were after us and the alarms were blaring loudly over head when I landed and the two of us sprinted down the hallway on Kids heals, leaving the energy chamber behind and turning a corner to find Robin busily hacking into the elevator. The little brat had just run off, leaving us behind to deal with the situation. Of course knowing him it might have just been that he expected we were behind him. It wouldn't be the first, or last time he assumed as much.

"way to be a team player Rob," Wally growled when we caught up to him, still being pursued quickly.

"weren't you right behind me?" he asked, seeming honestly surprised that we hadn't been.

"No, we weren't," I answered, stepping into the elevator the minute he had it open, followed by both boys. Kaldur had stayed back at the end of the corridor to keep an eye on the rapidly approaching creatures and only just joined us, somersaulting into the chamber while Kid Flash hit the 'close doors' button.

I frowned when the number on the top of the elevator read 42, 43, 44. I wasn't the only one displeased by the turn of events. Kal was the first to voice the development, and KF was the one who mentioned, none to casually, that we were meant to be going _up_, and to quote myself 'there's no way you would mistake up for down, what the hell dude?'

Our youngest comrade gave us a look as though it should be the most obvious thing in the world that project Kr was down. On sublevel 52.

"This is out of control," our Atlantean muttered, shaking his head and rubbing the back of his neck in an almost nervous fashion, "perhaps, perhaps we should contact the League."

I had to agree with him there, it was sounding like a good idea to have backup. I don't like relying to heavily on Hal to bale me out, but it wasn't like I'd never had to track him down after he did something reckless.

It was to late though, and once the doors opened Robin was running out, cape flapping dramatically out behind him and leaving the three of us with no choice but to go after him.

"We are already here," Wally pointed out helplessly, and we set out after the boy wonder, running over what may have been one of the weirdest surfaces I'd ever had the pleasure of crossing over. It looked like a giant esophagus, and wasn't quite hard enough to be solid. It was weird, to say the least.

Kaldur only sighed in exasperation when the younger boys ran over to the electronics in the oddly expansive room, crouching down behind them while the eldest male and I came soon after.

"Those two are going to get use killed one of these days."

He nodded in agreement.

"Which way now?" he asked grudgingly, and Kid looked at Robin as well, who had all of out attention.

"Yeah, bazar looking hallway one of bazar looking hallway two?" Robin gestured to each in turn, gripping his bird-a-rang tightly.

"You don't know?" I snapped, not fully believing that.

"I didn't have time to look up a map okay?" he defended, and I couldn't comprehend how reckless he was.

"Hold!" once more we were interrupted in out musing when an unfamiliar voice rang out and we looked over, catching sight of a humanoid Genomorph in a white coat. The horn on his blue head glowed and he lifted his hand, summoning two metal barrels via telekinesis and sending them flying at us, causing an explosion when we ducked and they crashed behind us. Rob threw his weapon at the being, who didn't even move to deflect it, just thought for it to stop. Have ever mentioned how much I hate telekinetics?

"Two it is," I shouted, leaving the ground and flying towards the hallway, leaving the boys scrambling in my wake. I wasn't to worried about them, they could handle themselves. Maybe that was why the boy wonder had trusted us to keep up with his little ninja act.

Kid blurred past me and took a sharp left, the three of us moving after him. We had to slow down a bit when we found him on his stomach, a dark woman in a lab coat on the ground between him and us, and a door sliding shut behind him.

I constructed a bar to keep it open(damn thing was stronger than it looked) and we ran inside, my construct vanishing just in time for our pursuers to hit it, and trapping my friends and I within the room.

"I disabled the door," Dick reported, "we're safe."

"We're trapped," our Atlantean compadre replied, glancing around the red wall of the room. He was right. We were so far underground it would take a hell of a lot of power for me to drill up to the surface, let alone keep the boys from getting crushed by debris and the building from falling in. So that option was out.

"Uh, guys?" we turned to look at Wally, who was facing away from us and casting an odd shadow from the light, "You'll wanna see this." He hit a button, and the place lit up, illuminating the three of us, and seriously irritating my eyes. I had to darken the screens of my domino mask before I could clearly see what KF had flipped the lights on for, and when I did see it I almost wished I hadn't.

There in a glass chamber no bigger than my closet, stood superman, only it wasn't. he was to young, to short, and his cheekbones couldn't quite cut someone just yet. Three of the smaller genomes, all of them appearing to be asleep, were perched above him in his glass coffin. Instead of the big mans red and blue he was decked out entirely in white, save the red S on his chest.

"Big K little R, the atomic symbol for Krypton," Kid realized, stepping before the rest of us towards the boy. God he couldn't have been any older than Wally. What were these people doing? KF was probably right. Clone.

"Robin, hack," Kaldur ordered, bringing the youngest out of his stunned silence and sending him into the technology. I started forward, circling the Tube and checking the corners for anyway out. Vents, cracks in the wall, a magic chimney... nothing.

"weapon designation 'Superboy'" Dick reported, reading off his wrist computer while the rest of us crowded around him, "a clone Force Grown in _sixteen weeks_? From DNA acquired from Superman."

"Stolen, from Superman," Kaldur corrected, looking back at the poor kid. Had he ever even been allowed outside of that cage? He looked to pristine, like an action figure that was supposed to be dragged off a kid but got locked up in a collection.

"No way the big guy knows about this."

I shook my head in agreement with Wally, walking back towards the dark haired kid in the over sized test tube but keeping an eye on my boys.

"solar suite allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation twenty four seven," Robin told us, scrolling through his glove.

"And these creatures?" asked Kaldur, pointing to what I assumed to be pictures of the little ones above him.

"Genomorph Gnomes," bird boy reported, "telepathic. Force feeding him an education."

"And we guess what else," ominous much Wally? "they're making a slave out of, well, Supermans son."

"Now we contact the League."

I agreed with Kal, waiting for him to call up. My attempts to reach Hal hadn't worked when I tried it, our rings probably out of range, and I hadn't been given any other communication device as of then. He pressed the 'A' on his belt, getting only static. Robin and Kid Flash had the same reactions, Rob grimly reporting that there was no signal.

"We're in to deep, literally," KF said, scowling at the consul before looking back at the boy. "This is wrong."

"We can't just leave him here," I stated, crossing my arms over my chest and fiddling with a strand of hair that had come loose from it's braid. It wouldn't be right. This wasn't living. This was being created, with no life or will of ones own. It was wrong, just as Wally had said.

"We can't leave him like this," Rob agreed, looking to the Kaldur for the final vote.

"Set him free," He ordered, making it unanimous. The Boy Wonder did just that, dragging a hand down the holo-screen. I had to step back when steam was released and the glass lowered, leaving the kid standing like an unbound mummy on an upright bed.

The boys hand moved, fingers stretching an knuckles cracking loudly as he awoke, blue eyes flashing open from behind dark lashed. He took in a breath and met our eyes for a moment, and it looked as if all would be well. Until he shot forward and body-slammed Aqualad. He got in a good three shots at the dark skinned boys face before KF grabbed on arm and held it back, Robin managing to cover his eyes, and me grabbing Kal and pulling him out from under the clone before he managed to sock Wally in the jaw and send him flying into another glass tube, shattering it and knocking the speedster out.

" I don't wanna do this," Rob informed him before shoving a Bird-a-rang under his mouth and releasing what i assumed to be knock out gas, sending the Kryptonian reeling. Kaldur was standing up again and he and I joined Robin, to busy with the now livid being to aid KF.

In his stunned moment Aqualad slammed a kick into his chest, sending the sixteen week old into the computer and breaking through it. Robin showed no mercy, pulling out a tTasser and sending it at the still choking boy, electrocuting him soundly before he ripped the wires away, unharmed. Bird boy was sent flying when his weapon was torn off target and used to bring him towards our new enemy.

Superboy managed to pin Dick under his foot before I pulled a page from his book and tackled him off, using my ring to pin him arms and trying to use my weight to keep him down on his back while Kaldur pulled Robin to his feet.

I failed in my endeavor however. He managed to bring his legs up and knee me in the back, breaking my concentration and shattering the binding I had thought up. He punched me, right in the sternum, and I was thankful for the plate of armor that protected my chest. If it hadn't been there my Manubrium would have snapped. I was sent flying off of him and into Rob(specifically his head to mine), both of us ending up on groaning on the ground. I tried to stand up, but nausea and black spots hit me like a truck and I dropped back to the unforgiving floor. Robin attempted the same, with only a smidgen more success before dropping back onto the ground beside me.

Kaldur was still fight, I heard his shout of 'enough!', but I couldn't seem to focus on him, let alone help.

"We are trying to help you," Aqualad tried to explain before the sound of concrete shattering overtook his voice. The dark was creeping in on my vision, familiar for all it was unwelcome, and the last thing I knew before all was black was Kaldur grunting in his attempts to strike.

This was not what I signed up for.


	3. Fireworks: Part 1

**Sorry that last update took so long, I didn't have a working flahsplayer for a little bit. **

**Anyways, I don't own anything but C.G. and I'll probably be writing from first person from now on, unless you guys prefer third, in which case I can switch it if you like. **

**In case you were wondering when Hal called her Siege he was pronouncing her initials, CG, Ceeg. Siege. **

**And she is publicly known as C.G. and it is known that those are her initials.**

* * *

_"Cathy!" a shout rang out inside the small house as the door was thrown open, a large, old man appearing in door frame and looking around through squinting eyes and thin spectacles. A smaller, older woman appeared by her side, smiling slightly as she cradled a small tin can in her hands._

_A giggle was heard from behind the grandfather clock and the man's head swiveled in that direction, stern lines of his face twitching in restrained expression before he looked away, humming loudly in contemplation._

_A blur of pink and brown shot out from behind the time keeper and the child launched herself at the elderly man, giving a gleeful shriek of 'Granpa!' before slamming into his legs. The Military man fainted injury as he fell, wailing about how she had gotten him while his wife looked on, laughing aloud at her husband and granddaughter._

* * *

_**We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.**_

_**Plato**_

* * *

_It was dark. It was a familiar darkness, the kind that you knew was from the lack of lamp in your bedroom, or the sun that had gone down and you had fallen asleep on the couch. Which, when I looked around, was exactly where I was. For a second I wondered why I wasn't in my bed, until I looked around the room and realized that I wasn't the only one there._

_Kaldur, Dick, and Wally were all around me. Wally had slumped back in the couch, TV remote in one hand and shoulders supporting his lolling head. His stomach, soft in its bend at the ribcage, provided me with a nice, warm pillow of fifteen year old and faded Flash T-shirt. _

_I was serving a similar role for robin, who had decided my chest would work well as a head rest and my stomach was more suited for his shoulders, my arm circled his shoulders, crossing over his clavicle and gripping the loose material of his green shirt. _

_Poor Kaldur had managed to konk out at the end of the couch, serving as the rest for my feet and the lower half of Dick, his chin supported by and balancing precariously on the base of his palm, threatening to totter over._

_It was familiar scene, and the only person missing was Roy, but he was probably busy with looking over colleges. He still hadn't decided on which one he wanted to go to, or even if he would._

_The only light in my living room was from the windows, and even that was dimmed by the curtains, the TV having probably shut off automatically while the five of us were asleep._

_Wait, five?_

_Sure enough out of the corner of my eye I spotted someone who most certainly wasn't a normal guest in our little gatherings. He sat in Hals armchair, back strait and face blank, staring at us with pale, familiar blue eyes. _

_**Time runs short.**_

_The boy stood and crossed over to us, my sleeping boys and I. I tried to sit up, to ask what he was doing here, but I couldn't move. I was frozen. _

_**You must awaken.**_

_He stood above us, staring down with no emotion at all, not even the common mask of the bats. It was as if he didn't feel, like he couldn't. The guys weren't waking up, and I couldn't do anything when he raising his hand, fingers curling into a tight fist and cocking back behind his shoulder. Horror washed over me when I remembered who he was, why he was there. Superboy threw forward his fist and-_

_**You must awaken now!**_

I sucked in a sudden lungful of oxygen, green glowing eyes snapping open in an instant. My arms were bound above my head and I couldn't move my legs either. My shoulder felt like absolute shit and my head was spinning rapidly as colors danced before my eyes unpleasantly, shield of will rising automatically to dim out the light and allow me to see.

Superboy stood before me, on the other side of a layer of glass, staring up at me, no, us. To my right were Robin and Kid Flash, both in costume instead of their civvies as I had dreamed, and Aqualad was hanging from his shackles to my left. None of us could move it seemed, and from the wide eyes expressions they were giving I guessed they had only just woken up as well.

The kid just watched us, staring silently, as though there was nothing he could say. It was creepy to be honest. It was like Superman, but without the welcoming smile he somehow had ready whenever Hal brought home a girl and the boys were busy and I needed a place to fly off to that was actually on world.

Wally was the first to crack under the pressure of the stare.

"What? What do you want?!" he shouted through the glass, and the barest hint of a frown appeared. Had Superboy been curious in his observations? I remember I'd done something similar when I first arrived back on earth, just watched people and what they did. Wonder Woman had almost had a heart attack when she had turned around one day after training to find me standing there, staring at her blankly.

"Quite staring you're cre-"

"Kid Flash," I snapped, noticing the emotion beginning to flicker on the boy's face, "chill alright?"

"It's creepy!" he exclaimed, staring at me as if I had just kicked him.

"Uh, KF how bout we not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?" Robin offered. He wasn't speaking with his usual volume, and I was worried he might have a few broken ribs. Actually, I was pretty sure he did.

"We only sought to help you," Kaldur said calmly, much more than the clearly freaking out Wally. Seriously with all the times his rogues kidnapped him you'd think he'd be more used to this sort of thing.

"Yeah, we free you, and you turn on us. How's that for gratitude-"

"Kid, please be quiet now," it was the Atlantean that interrupted his rambling this time. For such a smart kid Wally really was an idiot some times. "I do not believe our new friend was not in full control of his actions."

_The Gnomes! Telepathic control! That's what was with Guardian when his attitude switched around. So then he wasn't just attacking us, he was under orders. _

My ring was running on thirty percent power, meaning it was probably about one, maybe two in the morning. I knew Robin would pick his lock within the next few minutes, and Aqualad seemed to be getting some reaction out of Superboy.

"What if I," he stopped, back tracking when his voice came out quiet from what I assumed to be lack of use, "what if I wasn't?"

"He can talk?!" KF asked, and I resisted the urge to hit him. Mostly because I couldn't reach. Superboy's expression hit a glare. Just as he snapped out that 'yes, _he _can' I also chirped out a comment of my own.

"No Kid, they taught him all sorts of things but never thought being able to talk would be useful. It's not like if they needed him to do something he would have any reason to communicate," Wally gave me a hurt look, matching Superboys apparent surprise. Sarcasm had been part of his curriculum it seemed. I had spent several years without speaking English, and I knew from experience having things that seemed so basic as speech or assumptions made about it being pointed out wasn't fun. Even now there were things I lacked the ability to pronounce.

"It's not like I called him an it or something. He just didn't say anything when we were fighting!"

"You got knocked out first!" Robin exclaimed.

"The genomorphs taught you, telepathically?" it wasn't actually a question, but it sounded like one from Kaldur. He was good at listening. And good at bringing focus back away from bickering.

"They taught me much," the clone confirmed, ignoring Wally, "I can read, write, I know the names of thing."

"But have you seen them?" Robin asked, leaning against his bindings slightly towards the clone, "have they ever let you actually go outside. Have you ever seen the sky? The sun?"

The kid made an impressive argument, it was almost scary how quick he caught hold of information and ways to twist it, as he clearly was, trying to get Superboy on our side. But he was Batman's protégé, so I suppose I shouldn't have expected different.

"Images are implanted into my mind. But no, I have not seen them," he finally stopped staring at us, finding the floor to be more interesting than we were.

"Do you want to?" I asked, arching a brow and tugging the edge of my mask up above it. He looked up at me, seeming startled by the question. Had anyone ever asked what he wanted to do before?

"Do you know what you are? Who you are?" Kaldur asked, drawing us back to the matter at hand.

"Yes," the blue eyes boy replied, though I wasn't sure if he was just talking to Aqualad or me as well, and stood strait once more "I am the Superboy, a Genomorph, a clone created from the DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him should he perish, to destroy him should he turn from the Light."

The younger boys and I exchanged looks, worry setting in. What had they taught this kid? Destroy him? As in kill? We really needed to get the boy out with us, into a healthier environment.

"To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration. But like Superman you deserve a life of your own. Beyond that solar suit," Superboys expression was changing again, new ideas being presented and churned over in his mind, "beyond your pod. Beyond Cadmus."

"I live because of Cadmus," he snapped, anger returning, "it is my home!"

"Your home is a test tube."

"Robin is right. Home isn't where you're born, or raised, or anything like that. It's where you feel safe and comfortable. At the risk of sounding cliché, home is where the heart is. And I don't think that yours in that pod dear."

He was looking between me and Robin, as if he wasn't sure who made more, or less, sense. Rob made an offer.

"We can show you the sun."

"Actually pretty sure it's after midnight," Wally contradicted Dick, shifting in his shackles, "but we can show you the moon.

"We can show you, introduce you, to superman."

Aqualads offer seemed to have gotten to him, and for a second I thought maybe we had gotten through the Superboy, but then the door had to open and three people I really didn't want to see entered, one smug looking man in the middle, brown hair streaked with white, and the same woman KF had mowed down next to the Kr project room. To their right, out left, was Guardian.

"Activate the cloning process," the man ordered the woman, who nodded and hurried to do just that.

"Pass! Bat cave's crowded enough," Robin quipped, eyes wide behind his mask in a fashion I was sure mirrored my own. Cloning? No thank you.

"And get the weapon back in its pod!" the next shout was aimed at Guardian and I frowned deeply. It? What kind of asshole were we dealing with now?

Guardian strode forward and placed a hand on Superboys shoulder.

"Help us," Aqualad requested, and Superboy shrugged his hand out of Guardians grip. There was rebellion in his eyes. But the doctor was talking again and I started focusing on actually escaping when it became obvious that Rob was being slow. I wasn't paying enough attention to hear what was said, aside from the fact that Cadmus owned Superboy, to busy was I looking up at my bindings, they were too close to my skin for me get a barrier between and expand it, and I didn't actually see the lock holes. I formed a liquid like construct and willed it to fall over the cuffs, slide between the wiring and the minuscule cracks when it could.

I managed to get my right hand free just in time to erect a barrier between me and the suddenly appeared arms. The boys were stifling pained sounds as electricity sparked over their skin and ripped blood from their chests. I pushed forward on the shield and managed to crush the arms against the glass, but I was still stuck with only on free arm and a Genomorph headed my way, wicked looking claws clicking against the steel floor.

"Damnit," I mumbled, starting to panic when two more arms came up within my barrier, "please, someone give us a hand here."

I could see Kaldurs lips moving when I looked around for the boys, all of them clearly in pain. I crushed the first to arms with finality and managed to snap another with my right hand before the second hit me in the side, piercing through the black fabric right below the green armor and shooting into my ribcage.

I grit my teeth and wined in pain, scrunching my eyes closed and trying to focus enough past the sudden ripping out of my DNA to destroy the damn thing.

I didn't have to as it turned out. Because Aqualad was nothing if not persuasive. The door was ripped off its hinges and lifted over the head of one Kryptonian, cutting off the power to our needles apparently. He threw the door to the side, as well as the doctor, Guardian, and the humanoid Genomorph. Double X or something.

"_Don't_ give me orders," Superboy spat, glaring at the scientist before facing us. Anger issues, it would appear, but I was happy to see him.

"You here to help us or fry us?" Kid Flash asked, and Superboy squinted up at us in a fashion similar to how Superman seemed to whenever he lit something on fire with a look.

"Huh. I don't seem to have heat vision so I guess helping is my only option," he said, smirking slightly. I was starting to like the kid, but I still owed him an almost broken sternum and a concussion. Robin chose that moment to groan and drop out of his pod, robbing his now free wrists.

"Finally! Lucky Batman _isn't _here. He'd have my head for taking so long!" he exclaimed, apparently fairly recovered from his head injury. Or it could have been that weird Bat thing the Gotham heroes seemed to do.

"Seriously?" Wally stared at Dick blankly, "that's what you're worried about. The whole League will have our head after tonight!"

I sighed and got to work freeing my left hand, managing to get a construct under the metal and next to my wrist before trying to make it come off, shattering it and forcing open the glass.

"You free Aqualad, I'll get Kid Mouth," Robin muttered to Superboy while I went to check on the doctor and his associates, all of them out cold for at least a few minutes.

"Don't you tell me what do either," Superboy growled, doing as Robin asked anyway and ripping Aqualads bindings out of the steel. Kaldur smiled at Superboy, thanking him while Robin picked KF's locks and in a few seconds we were off running.

"You'll never get out of here!" the brown haired asshole shouted, apparently conscious once more, "I'll have you back in pods before morning!"

Robin dug around in his utility belt, tisking slightly as he pulled out a few explosives.

"That guy is not whelmed, no whelmed at all," he said, throwing the devices to blow up our blood samples before joining us once more. Wally was shaking his head.

"What is it with you and this whelmed thing?"


	4. Fireworks: Part 2

**Hope you guys are enjoying the story. I'll be alternating between First and Third Person points of view sometimes, fair warning. If it irritates you guys let me know and I can change it, and also, just out of curiosity which POV do you prefer?**

**I don't own anything but Catherine.**

* * *

"_Sit up straight Cathy," her mother's father ordered, setting a plate down in front of the girl and taking his own seat across the table. She did her grandfather ordered, straitening her spine and picking up the chicken nuggets in front of her, starting to eat as she stared at the older man. _

_He met her eyes, brown to brown, arching a brow at the small thing in front of him. It was the first time they had met past short introductions at various birthday parties, and it seemed to be going well. Cathy could tell he hadn't been around kids in a long time, but he at least had good things to eat._

"_How old are you this year?" Patrick asked, opening can of coke and placing it in front of the little girl. She sent him an odd look but didn't bother informing him she wasn't allowed to have pop._

"_I'm four Grandpa."_

* * *

_**Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold.**_

_**Andre Maurois**_

* * *

Hal Jordan was not what one would call a worrier. A warrior, yes. But a worrier, no. There were, however, several situations could change that description around. One such situation included his boss and sometimes-girlfriend being mad at him for no discernible reason. Another involved his charge of five years vanishing without a trace for more than three hours.

You can guess which one was currently applicable.

He had checked everywhere when he and his fellows had returned from keeping the sun shining. He checked the North Pole, the moons south pole, his adoptive sister's favorite bakery in Coast City, and a small cove on Easter Island she was partial to. He ran a scan for her rings signature from the watchtower and discovered that it was not able to be found. Which meant one of two things.

Either it wasn't on earth, it was completely out of charge, or it was more than one hundred feet below the crust of the planet. And seeing as the only planet close enough for her to willingly visit was Oa and Salaak, Ch'p, Kilowag, and Ganthet had all denied seeing her it was only logical that she was still in the sector, likely on earth, in some kind of cave, because he had seen her charge it that morning, and knew that it wouldn't go out for a while if she didn't use all of it.

Hal knew of her history in caves, and knew that while she could function underground far better than any human, except perhaps the Batman, but she was not a common visitor to any cavern.

So he worried. While the Flash caught up with and was subsequently scolded by his Rogues for losing _their_ baby, Batman tracked down every known villain with the current ability to kidnap Robin and Aquaman checked in at Atlantis for his own Protégé, Hal lapped the planet for the third time.

It wasn't uncommon for her to disappear when she was stressed or upset, nor was it unusual for the other sidekicks to drag her off on some miscellaneous adventure, but never had all of them been impossible to get into contact with. The entire league was searching for them, not to mention Centrals Rogue Gallery and several other heroes who were sometimes affiliated with them.

Everyone was starting to panic, Wonder Woman was even considering asking her mother if the missing sidekicks had dropped by Themyscira for one reason or another.

Hal had no idea where she was, but his ring was running low, and there was no doubt that hers was as well. Depending on how much she was using it there wouldn't be anything left of a charge within the hour, and he had checked back at their apartment. She had left her battery there.

* * *

I was out of power. I managed to reach the top of the stair well and clear off the few of our opponents there before there was nothing left, and from there I had to wait for Robin to lend me one of his spare masks. I swear that boy has everything in that belt of his. It was even green.

Superboy had, in our little run underground, almost brought the building down around us in a fit of anger, discovered that he couldn't fly, and managed to lead us right where we needed to be.

Wally had run his little red head off, cleared the stairs of Genomes, and made several rather unhelpful and assumptious remarks.

Kaldur had kept everyone focused, kept Superboy from falling to an early death, and pried open a set of doors.

And Robin, well, Robin had hacked the motion sensors.

I ran alongside my boys, slowing when KF slammed head first into a newly closed door while alarms blared around us. I frowned, hoping he hadn't gotten a concussion as well. Robin might have had one, and I knew I had one. The world was still spinning slightly, it wasn't any better now that the only mask I had did shit to darken the glare of the flashing crimson lights. Near permanent Mydriasis is a pain.

"We are cut off from the street," Kaldur stated, staring at the doors. Well, more like glaring. It did figure that we were stuck with several inches of what I assumed to be steel separating us from our freedom. We were close two, sub level one.

"Thanks," Wally muttered, sitting up on the ground and rubbing the side of his skull, "my head hadn't noticed."

I looped an arm under his, pulling the ginger to his feet and looking forlornly down at my now dead power ring. Hopefully that term of phrase wouldn't bite my butt in the end, but it was difficult not to mourn the loss of my only power and equipment, however temporary its absence may be. Assuming we got out of there. I only hoped I could rely on my physical ability to help the boys get out.

Kid Flash and I couldn't help at all, all we could do was stand there and watch as Aqualad and Superboy attempted to pry open the doors, Robin cursing when he found that even he couldn't get them open. Our pursuers appeared at the end the hall and panic began to set in.

"This way!" Robin shouted, kicking open a door I hadn't noticed at all and leading us in. We ran, forgetting to shut it behind us when we could and scrambling down the new passage. Or we would have, if we hadn't been forced to stop once more when we found ourselves confronted by Guardian and squadron of Genomorphs. I was really starting to grow annoyed with their numbers.

More approached from behind and we readied ourselves. Kaldur summons his water bearers, Robin brought about his Bird-a-Rangs, Kid Flash prepared to run, crouching forward slightly, and all I could do was watch out backs and bring my fists up, as useful as that was.

In the end it didn't matter, because the second those little horns on the Gnomes started glowing we were all down for the count, the world twisting into complete oblivion for far longer than I would have liked. And when we came out of it it looked like Guardian had as well.

The floor was absolutely freezing through my semi-civilian clothes. A green lantern shirt and black pants made me look more like a fangirl than an actual hero, but it was good enough. Loose hair was a pain in the ass though, and I couldn't see a thing until I had flipped my head back like a L'Oreal commercial. I couldn't seem to stand up, fuzzy confusion wrapping around my mind.

Superboy and Double Z were exchanging soulful looks and I had a feeling they were holding a telepathic conversation without me. How rude. Well actually, they could keep their telepathy to themselves. I had had my fill of it for the day. Finally Superboy straightened up, meeting the beings gaze squarely.

"I choose freedom."

The horns stopped glowing whatever presence still in my head vanished, letting me think clearly. Guardian managed to voice the sensation perfectly; it felt like fog lifting. The boys managed to stand up fine, as did I after nearly falling thanks to the crack that was undoubtedly in my skull. The lights had stopped flashing though, and the low glowing red was much easier to see in.

"Guardian?" Kaldur asked, not needing to continue his sentence before the older man nodded.

"Go," he ordered, suddenly looking and sounding a lot more like one of us, "I'll deal with Desmond."

Desmond, apparently the ass that wanted us in pods, came in quite dramatically from the side, holding a vial that looked a little too much like a prop out of my middle schools production of 'Jeckle and Hyde'.

"I think not," the Genomes parted in half, revealing the man who stood there, glowering at us, "Project blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus," he held of the pale blue liquid.

I realized what he was going to do a second before he tipped his head back and downed the concoction.


	5. Fireworks: Part 3

**Last one for the first episode/s. I know it's taking forever just to get through the pilot, I'm not too happy with it either.**

**I don't own anything but Cath.**

* * *

_Laugher filled the air and the shine shone down from just beyond a low ridge of mountains, casting long shadows in the sprinting, cheerful children. The neighborhood grew dark and lights slowly flicked on, parents watched their blissful offspring as the scrambled through the shadows, trampling grass and pushing through shrubbery as they chased one another into the dark of the summer night._

* * *

_**We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine.**_

_**Dwight L. Moody**_

* * *

It was sick.

The sound of bones crunching and forcibly expanding, skin pulling and tearing at itself and joints realigning as the mutation began, morphing the scientist in something else entirely. The cells of his Epidermis split apart and tore, muscles growing faster than the skin could to the point where strips of it hung off of him along with the remnants of his lab coat. A layer of what I assumed to be new skin, or it might have been oddly colored muscle of steel grey, appeared beneath the tattered remains of his organ. He grew in size as well, swelling up to near four times his original size. His eyes changed, sclera pitching black and while his iris's bled red, teeth elongating and vocal cords loosening to send his growls lower in pitch.

Desmond gave a roar as he straightened to a stand at the end of the transformation, grinning down at us darkly and presenting his much bigger, much more muscular form to us. I was just glad his pants managed to stretch far enough to keep the man decent. There were some things I did not need to see.

For one reason or another Guardian decided to order us back before rushing the former man, getting batted away harmlessly like a fly. Not his brightest idea. Desmond wasn't making human sounds any longer, they were vocalizations of a predator, like the Chita I had run from as a child. He didn't fit the picture quite, they were darker, their necks were longer and Desmond was too broad of shoulders and short of legs to fit the image completely, but if I closed my eyes I knew it would be the same sound that had terrified me when I was small.

I hadn't been afraid of the Chita for seven years though, and was certainly not afraid of this creature. I couldn't afford to be.

Superboy was the next to rush him, much to my own irritation. Didn't these boys think before they acted? Honestly, it was no surprise that the punches he threw didn't do a damn thing to the scientist. It was worrisome that the boy that had handed us our rear ends on a silver plate couldn't damage the thing in front of us, what's worse was that Desmond seemed to be damaging Superboy, if only a little. They kept punching each other, neither doing any good at all, until the hulking grey being grabbed Superboy and jumped up, through the ceiling.

_Perfect_ I though, looking up after them, _we might actually get out of here. Or we might die. _

"Okay, that's one way to bust through the ceiling, "Robin pulled out his grappling gun, firing it and grabbing Wally's hand to pull up with him.

"You think lab coat planned that?" Wally asked, scrambling over the edge of the hole after Dick.

"I doubt he is planning anything anymore," Kaldur offered me a hand up and I stepped into his interlaced fingers, letting him toss me up and flying out of the breach in concrete, landing on the edge before turning around to watch the Atlantean jump easily out of the opening. I was sometimes jealous of how strong he was, but I guess that's what happens when you grow up in the ocean.

"If he is going for something he really need to rethink his strategy," I commented, watching the interaction between the two super strength wielding foes. It still seemed like a dead lock, I was doubtful that Superboy would win on his own. I was proven right a second later when Desmond caught him around the calves and spun around, flinging the Boy of Steel directly into myself and Aqualad.

I could chalk 'fractured ribs' up on my growing list of injuries for the night. Robin and Kid Flash helped up Superboy and Kaldur respectively before Dick wrapped an arm around my shoulders and hauled me to my feet as well, the good doctor still growling. He roared and lunged at us.

Wally took off running, sliding between the massive legs of the man before us and crouching on all fours. Aqualad and Superboy jumped as one, punching him in the face with a surprising amount of team work while KF braced himself, lifting off his knees and using leverage to trip Desmond onto his back before he stood and grinning proudly.

"Learned that one in kindergarten," he proclaimed, not even flinching when Dick leapt up behind him, sending several projectiles past his ear towards the older man. The former scientist rolled out of the way and I took the chance to shed my jacket when Desmond caught Superboy trying to punch him and slammed the kid into the wall, pinning him there and apparently dazing the kid.

I ran up behind him, jumping onto his shoulders and catching his face in the black cloth as I yanked back on the sleeves and edges, holding it in place and holding myself on the monsters back while he swiped at me, roaring and trying to tear on knock my off. He couldn't shake me; if he tried slamming into a wall I moved out of the way and he took the brunt of it, when he tried tearing me off with his hands I dodged. He was more like the Chita than I had previously thought.

Kaldur used his water bearers as a mace and managed to get a shot in before Desmond finally caught me and threw me _through_ a pillar. I was sorely missing my armor and it took far too long for me to get back on my feet, and when I did it was Robins doing again. I was fairly sure I had ruptured my spleen by then.

While I was down Desmond kept throwing my boys around. He almost stomped on Kaldur and chucked Wally at the water breathing lad once. We were not doing well at all, and I didn't know how long we would be able to last.

Luckily Dick seemed to have formed a plan in the few minutes I had been left to catch my breath as best I could without breathing deeply. There was a projection on his holographic wrist projector, the room. Specifically the pillars. The ginger joined us quickly and took the plan immediately, fetching Aqualad to fill him in and explaining quickly to Superboy, though he had probably been able to hear us already.

KF ran over and launched himself into the air, punching Desmond and freeing his then captive Superboy as well as ripping of a strip of his skin. And my god was that gross. It was his _skin_! Wally even went far enough to tease him with it! 'I got your nose!' how did I end up with that boy?

It worked well enough as a distraction and he managed to get the ex-Lab man to knock over another pillar before it was my turn to run in, using the very last charge in my battery hit temporarily blind him. Superboy punched him a couple of times before being thrown away and using his strength to knock down a pillar.

And from there Desmond focused on me. I lead him to another of the pillars, managing to duck and dodge every throw he threw at me until we reached it and he started hitting the column. He got in three shots from my moving my head at the last second, and my hiding behind the pillar convinced him to take the last one.

If Dick was right we only needed one more pillar down. I rejoined the boys, watching the doctor shake off bits of concrete that had fallen on his head. Wally took over the distracting job, using his speed to the advantage while the other two took out more of the stabilizers. I stood beside Robin while he drew an X on the floor in chalk, struggling to breathe evenly from the fire in my ribs. I had no idea how Kid Flash managed to keep moving, he had been hit more times than I had, but he had also had momentum and hyper healing.

"I hope this works Rob. There's not much else I can do if it doesn't," I admitted, shifting nervously as he stood up from his marking The Spot.

"It will," he assured me, shooting me one of his best shit eating grins, "trust me." How many times had those words gotten me into trouble? But I did. I trusted Dick, and I trusted Wally and Kaldur as well, just as they trusted me. I mean, Robin had to trust me for me to know his top-secret identity. Though considering I've known him since he first put on the cape, and Batman a year longer than that, it wasn't really that big of a surprise.

I stepped out of the way while Kaldur lay down the water, waiting until Wally had lured in the man we were fighting to make my move. I jumped in, right before he hit the red head and aimed the hardest kick I could manage between his legs. I could see Wally wince from behind me while Desmond gave a strangled roar, Superboy slamming a fist into the back of his head and sending him to the ground. He would have landed on the speedster and me if not for our reflexes, and the minute he was on the water Aqualad hit him with several thousand volts of electricity.

"Move!" Robin shouted. And move we did. The explosives he had planted went off and brought the building down on top of Desmonds head. Unfortunately it brought it down on us as well. Superboy grabbed KF and pulled me underneath him as well, shielding us from the impact. I could feel the rocks striking him as he kept us from being crushed and guilt swamped me. If I had been more responsible with the amount of power I had and not wasted it on things I could do physically, like transportation and hitting genomes, I might have been able to save him the harm of having a building drop on top of his back. Kryptonian or not, he still had to feel that.

When the stone finally settled on us Superboy stood up, throwing a great slab of it off of us and revealing the dark sky above our head, twinkling with stars. I couldn't believe it. We had actually made it out of there alive. We were safe. To the left I saw Kaldur and Dick rise up from the ashes, brushing themselves off and looking around as well, breathing just as heavily as I.

"We, did it," Kaldur managed, panting and rubbing his head slightly.

"Was there. Ever any doubt?" Robin returned, smiling as he sucked in air between breaks of speech. He and Wally grinned at each other, slapping their hands together before doubling over in pain. Apparently I wasn't the only one with a few fractures ribs.

"We're alive," I breathed, collapsing onto the cold stone of the wrecked building. We made it out, we brought Superboy with us. And look there, glaring down into my eyes, it was the moon, as bright as ever and full in the night. Wally pointed it out to our new friend, who stared up at it in what I assumed to be some kind of wonder. There was more than just the moon in the sky though.

"Oh, and Superman. Do we keep our promises or what?" Wally was smiling still, arms wrapped around himself, or rather crossed over his chest. It depended on how you looked at it.

"What are you so happy for carrot top, Len is going to tan you hide when you get back home. Well, Sam I guess, considering you just arrested Len," the boy groaned in despair at my logic, knowing that it was true. I was aware of his strange relationship with his rogues, I had spent enough time in central with Hal and Barry it was impossible that I didn't, and if it wasn't weird I don't know what was.

Robin laughed quietly, clearly feeling his injuries as he stood beside me, waiting for me to stand before walking over to the newly arrived League. All of them.

"Yep," I muttered, hand brushing Dicks to make sure he was listening, "Grounded."

They were not happy. Hal was glaring at me, Diana had her hands on her hips and even Captain Marvel was frowning. I knew we had worried them but I didn't know it was this bad. If they ever let us out again after this is would miraculous. And if they didn't, well, who were they to stop us from protecting people?

Superboy stepped forward and I felt my stomach twist when the bog man didn't do anything but frown, curling my hand into a fist when he pulled up the tattered remains of his solar suite and showing his source the emblem on it. Shock passed over the League, stunned looks were exchanged and Superman, after spinning from a frown to a wide eyed look, settled on glaring at the kid.

"Is that what I think it is?" Batman was the one to break the silence, and I stepped forward at the vibe I was getting off the League, Kid Flash doing the same and going far enough to stand beside the dark haired boy. Wally was kind enough to inform that he doesn't like being called it before Superboy squared his shoulders and tilted his head up.

"I'm Superman's clone," whatever doubt had been in the League about the kid until then grew only further and I watched them look at each other again, still more confused. This would not end well, I was sure of it. Batman frowned further, his expression darkening if that were possible before he looked straight at us.

"Start talking."

* * *

Nearly half an hour later the boys and I were standing a circle amidst the rubble we had caused, silent and contemplative. Every now and again Supey would look at the Man of Steel and then back at us. Hal hadn't said anything since we had explained our actions but he had given me a quick lend of energy from his ring, returning my outfit. The borrowed mask was returned to Robin and my hair was no longer falling in my way every five second. If I didn't like being able to do things with it I would probably have cut it short by then.

John had just flown off with the former doctor, now being called Block Buster, when Superman finally approached his clone, stopping a foot or so away from the kid and sighing. Superboy didn't seem to happy with it, but Clark hadn't exactly been welcoming. Or even very civil.

"We'll uh, We'll figure something out for you. The _League _will, I mean. For now, I… Better make sure they get the Block Buster creature stowed away," I don't think I've ever heard him sound to perturbed before. I don't know what I expected would happen honestly, but I had hoped he would at least talk to the kid a little more. He had flown off quickly, and we welcomed a few second later by the approach of Batman, followed by Hal, Barry, and Orin.

"Cadmus will be investigate, all fifty to levels," the Bat said, stopping in front of us, "but let's make one things clear."

"you should have called!" Barry cried, interrupting the dark knight when he took a breath and earning himself a glare from the bat while Hal nodded, looking pointedly at me. I shrugged.

"End results aside we are not happy," I never would have guessed, "you hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not being doing this again."

He was wrong. He was completely wrong. He was the Batman, his word was to be final. But there was no way in hell we were going back from there. We had come too far, fought to hard, to step back behind their capes like a bunch of children.

"I am sorry, but we _will_," Kaldur spoke for us all and Dick stepped forward, meeting his mentors gaze squarely.

"Aqualad, stand down," the older Atlantean ordered, stepping toward his protégé. The younger boy lowered his eyes for a moment and brought a hand to his chest before he opened his mouth once more.

"Apologies my king. But no," Aquaman looked rightfully surprised when he was disobeyed, arching a blond brow when rebellion shone in Kaldur'Ahm's eyes "we did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do. Together, on our own, we forged something powerful, important."

"If this about your treatment at the hall, the three of you-"

"the four of us," KF interrupted his mentor, shooting a meaningful look at the clone before turning back to the adults, "and it's not."

"This is what we were trained to do, by you, it's what we have the power to do. To help people. Who are you to tell us not to when everyone said you were crazy in the beginning?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and honestly wondering what they thought they were doing.

"Batman we're ready to use what you taught us," Robin stated, stepping forward, "or why teach us at all?"

"Why let them tell us what to do? It's simple. Get on board, or get out of the way."

* * *

I had been right when I said we were grounded. In fact I was grounded for a week, which was nothing compared to the trouble Wally was in. Kaldur had gotten reprimanded, and Dick wasn't allowed out on patrol for another month. All in all it wasn't so bad though. Hal made true on his promise of Chinese, we actually flew to New York to get it, since everything was already closed in Coast City and NYC had restaurant open freakishly late. Or early, whatever you count four in the morning to be.

We were sitting a restaurant, still not talking over and order of Sesame Chicken and Egg Rolls. Hal had finished his and I had ended up ordering a second serving. It had been almost twenty hours since I'd last eaten, and I had no intension of not getting my fill. Everything ached but I was awake still, adrenaline still working its way out of my system after that day and night I had had.

At last the silence got to me, and I lost our silent war when I broke it.

"You told me to stay with them."

He almost cracked a smile.

"I didn't mean take down a building and nearly get yourself killed. Shouldn't you be the responsible one?" he asked, leaning back in his chair and looking at me sternly.

"Shouldn't you be less of a hypocrite?" I retorted, finally finishing my chicken and standing up to throw it away while Hal shook his head at me, making his way out the door.


	6. Waiting

**This is less of an actual chapter and more of a filler. Basically what happens in three days after the initial incident.**

* * *

_A voice was calling from the front of her home, and Cathy followed it. It was her mother, standing in the parlor. Cathy stopped just outside of the glass panels of the door, well aware that she wasn't supposed to go in. Their house was old, the parlor had been set up by her great-great-great grandma Catherine, and had been kept up by her great-great grandma Juliet, her great grandma Ruby, her Grand, and her mother. Cathy had never been allowed inside before. _

"_Cathy," Her mother smiled and gestured that she should enter and take the seat on the exceedingly old bench before the piano, "come here, I want to show you something."_

_Cathy did as her mother bid, picking her way carefully over the sinking carpet, looking around the room warily, as though the floral patterned wall paper may bite her if she wandered to close. The bench was too steep for her to get up on her own and her mother had to haul her up the last few inches, waiting until her daughter had settled in on the hard wood. The dual colored keys shone before her and Cathy watched her mother reach forward, listening and observing as the older woman tapped away a small melody. _

"_The stars!" Cathy exclaimed, humming the tune quietly as the lyrics entered her mind. Twinkle, Twinkle, little star…_

"_That's right," her mother said, dropping her hand in her lap, "do you want to learn to play the piano Cathy?"_

_The little girl nodded vigorously, smiling happily up at her usually busy mother and scooting closer, eyes on the instrument before as she listened to her mother's instructions._

* * *

"_**You must remember, family is often born of blood, but it doesn't depend on blood. Nor is it exclusive of friendship. Family members can be your best friends, you know. And best friends, whether or not they are related to you, can be your family."**_

― _**Trenton Lee Stewart, The Mysterious Benedict Society**_

* * *

It was three in the morning when Hal and I got back to Coast City, and while my brother went to bed immediately, taking the TV remote with him and locking his door behind him. I was exhausted, everything hurt and we had made a brief stop at the hospital on our way in, not bothering with civilian guises and just walking in as Lanterns. It wasn't the unusual actually, the Flashes did that, the Arrows had now and again when they didn't feel like wasting time making excuses. Aquaman didn't need a disguise, he was the king after all. But according to one very concerned doctor I had four broken ribs, a minor concussion, and a small crack in my collar bone. All in all not to horrible. It wasn't as bad as the time Robin had had to go in full costume because a pipe went through his stomach.

Hal had gotten out of his mission with relatively no damage done, but he was clearly just as tired as I was. Which would not do. I pulled out my phone from where I had left it that morning, between the couch cushions, and speed dialed number two. It rang for several moments before I was put through.

"You've reached Carol Ferris. Please leave a message and I'll get back to you," the tone sounded and I was glad that she hadn't picked up. Carol worked hard, she deserved to get some sleep for once in her life.

"Hey Carol, it's Cath. Sorry to wake you up but I just needed to tell you that I don't think Hal will be able to get to work tomorrow. I go run over earlier today, well yesterday, and ended up breaking a few ribs. I'm fine, but we just got back from the hospital and Hal is dead tired so if he doesn't show up for work and forgets to call in that's why. I'll see you later, buy."

I hung up once I was done, tossing the electronic into my room and waiting until it had landed safely on my bed before I grabbed the screw driver from its place above my door frame, sticking into the small hole in Hal's doors knob, twisting it and listening to the door unlock. I crept in, watching his already sleeping form warily and slipping over to his night stand. I ignored the charging power ring on the side table and bent over, pulling the plug out of the wall before exiting quietly. I knew every creek in this apartment, every loose board that might give me away, and avoided them skillfully.

My brother had no idea he wouldn't be getting up in the morning. For such a laid back guy he pushed himself harder than he should. It wasn't really healthy.

I went to my room, shedding the semi-civvies and yanking on my lovely pajamas before I fell face first into bed and twisted into the fuzzy blanket. My ring floated to its battery and I mutter the Oath quickly before I snatched up my phone, sending a quick text out to everyone. One to Robin, who probably still had his phone, Roy, Kaldur, and Wally with instructions to sleep late or else, and asked Wally to tell Superboy I said hello, as the clone had decided to stay with the red head until things cleared up for him.

Darkness fell over my senses and all I knew then was sleep and dreams of running under the ground with my family.

* * *

Hal had panicked when he'd woken up, until he saw the voice message from Carol telling him to stay with me and take a break. He had been irritated that I hadn't told him before, but to be honest it wasn't the first time that had happened. He'd called me in from school on several occasions because we'd been too tired when we got back from a mission to do shit.

It was late in the afternoon when I finally woke up, got dressed and managed to scrounge together some semblance of food in our mostly expired kitchen. I needed to go shopping today for sure. Hal had left a note saying he had gone on a date (bit surprise) so I was left alone. I wasn't allowed off planet or on patrol until Saturday. I had actually been woken up at six that morning to have Kilowag and Salaak chew my ear off in scolding and Ch'p make sure I was unharmed. Arisia called around eleven to do the same and Chinmay texted me about ten times for ditching him for lunch.

So it wasn't just the League I was in trouble with. It was everyone else too. The only person who I hadn't done anything to deserve a scolding from was Terra, and she and I were going shopping with Elise around six so we could see the nighttime premier of some horror movie the cheap theatre was playing.

It was another hour or so at home, spent alone in seclusion with nothing but a few texts from Wally and Dick asking how I was and a call from Roy inquiring as to whether we really had done everything the entire superhero community was buzzing with, before I bothered to get ready. Shorts and a Flash tank top were all I needed before leaving the house with my freshly charged ring (I was going to ask John the next time I saw him if there was a way to keep the battery with me somehow) and a jacket for when it got cold that night. Which it would. Quickly.

I met up with Terra outside her apartment off Park and she opened the door of my Elantra(paid for it myself) and slid in. she dropped her purse in the open foot space and grinned at me, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ears as she greeted me before snapping the seatbelt on and kicking back.

"Feet of the dash dear," I ordered, swatting at her legs and pulling out of the parking lot and into traffic.

"Yes _mom_," she mocked, doing as I said and tucking her legs up under her chin, smirking when I sighed. If we crashed she was going to get those limbs crushed. Not that we would crash, Dr. Collins said that I should be able to drive carefully so long as I wore sun glasses and didn't blast the music. The latter was the only annoying part, seeing as I needed to wear sunglasses near all the time usually.

"You just love not listening to people don't you?" I asked, rhetorically, listening to her laugh and agree while traffic tore around us. It was always so loud in the city, it was sometimes overwhelming. Which was why I usually had music blaring, blocking out the incessant shriek of civilization. The Coast City Indoor Shopping Center loomed above us, five stories high and not to full on Monday. Elise would be working her summer job in Flats & Hats (such a creative name), and her shift would end when it closed at nine, and we would drive across town to catch the movie at Cinema Savers at ten.

The next three hours were spent crawling the mall, my convincing Terra to try on various things she would never willing put on herself and goofing off in various stores. Tossing tennis balls back and forth in Jerry's Sporting Goods, picking out new swim suits in Lola's Surf Shop, and dropping by Pizza Hut around eight to split a small pepperoni. We finished at F&H, me buying some new sandals while Terra chatted with Mike(the store manager) and Elise until they closed down and Terra and I went back to my car. Elise had managed to gather up enough money to buy a VW bug off her cousin in some town in Utah and she came after us.

The movie wasn't too bad, it was fairly cliché, but not bad. Ghosts haunting some people who had no idea what they were doing. Not that it made any difference to the specialists they tried bringing in. It was midnight when we got out and I dropped Terra off at her house once we were finished. The Super Walmart on Harmony was open 24/7 and I grabbed a box of cereal and some half priced produce, milk was added to the list as well and I grabbed a bottle of coke as well. If nothing else there would be food in the morning.

* * *

Tuesday was boring. Chinmay and Taylor dropped by to have lunch, and ended up dragging my sleeping ass out of bed. Hal had gone to work that day, and wouldn't be back until later in the night thanks to monitor duty on the Watch Tower. Around two Wally texted me, complaining about his moms wanting he and Superboy to go outside the next day and we made plans to meet up in my city later that night with Dick. He was getting impatient with Bruce, he had expressed it several times Tuesday and he was off Gotham City patrol for a while so it wasn't like he would be missed. Alfred wouldn't tell Bruce unless specifically asked so we were in the clear.

There was virtually nothing to do for the rest of the day, though Hartley did call once to confirm what Wally had told the Rogues. They had called me for such things like that several times since Wally first joined our ranks. Hal and I had been on call the first time he went out in costume, and I had stayed over in Central the first time Barry went off planet and left Wally alone. I had to go in and keep a billboard from falling on him and James when they ended up slipping on Lens ice. So we had a decent relationship. I was one of the few heroes they didn't mind crashing in Central, and we worked together often enough to keep the ginger out of trouble. I'd even been invited to James's birthday party last year.

They were nice guys, weird as it sounded, much better than the nuts I had met in Gotham during the few times I visited.

I really hated that place. Being honest the only non-bat Gothamite I didn't hate was Catwoman, and that was mostly because she had attended a fundraiser Carol had in Gotham three years ago (She liked dragging Hal to them, and he liked dragging me along as well) to steal some diamond from the hotel that was hosting and she had been one of the nicest people I'd ever met in that city. She was one of the few adults that didn't treat Dick and I like we lacked intelligence.

* * *

We met up on the beach line, a small cove I liked to go to that most people couldn't get to. The whole place was surrounded with trees and the cove itself was a dip in the landscape, peninsulas on both sides extending out to curl as a C around a deep cut off in the stone, leaving several yards of dark water in a large pool. Seal and Great Blue Herons frequented the place, and there were actually a decent number of them there when we arrived.

The birds took off and most of the mammals hit the waves when Wally made his grand entrance, much less subtle that Dicks little ninja tricks. I had been waiting for about ten minutes before the Boy Wonder showed up, sitting on one of the rocks the jutted out of the coast line, and Dick had appeared right behind me. I ended up with soaking wet jeans and mud filled flats thanks to that kid. And what did he get? A laugh, of course.

Wally sped in less than thirty seconds later, stirring up the local wildlife. Why those two were still awake at what was after midnight for them(it was only ten for me) I didn't care to ask. It was summer, they would be able to sleep in just fine.

"Hey Dick, Cath," Wally greeted, brushing some of the dirt off of his trainers.

"You're late," we both replied, me reclaiming my seat and Dick lounging on the still warn stone, sunglasses pushed back into his hair. Wally dropped down before us, crossing his legs and pulling out a bag of chips.

"Supey says high," he informed us, crunching on the fried slices of starch.

"Return the gesture when you get back. How was your little excursion?" I inquired, showing off my vocabulary a little bit.

"Well we ran into a couple of guys robbing the mall, beat them up, got Supey some new shirts, had to explain to the police why he was able to throw one of them through a wall, got some pizza, you know. The usual."

The usual for us was really, really weird.

"Fun. Any news from Bruce on what he's gonna do?" Wally and I turned to the bird to find him shaking his head, looking frustrated.

"Nothing," he growled, glaring at the water, "he hasn't even mentioned it and whenever I ask he just brushes it off!"

"He said to give him three days Dick, he's got till tomorrow before we have legit reason to confront him about it," I tapped my youngest friends forearm, drawing a sigh from the dark haired gypsy.

"I know, but he could at least put something in the Bat Computer," he mumbled. Wally snorted and kicked his shoe.

"Why, so you can hack it again?" he asked, grinning at Dick teasingly.

"Yes! And he won't drop that either. He is so not whelmed."

"Somewhere Webster is rolling around in his grave," I stated, shaking my head.

"Webster was a real person?" asked Wally, to which I shrugged.

"Dunno. Sounds like a name though, and it says it's his dictionary, so maybe he is a real person?" I wasn't actually sure now that I thought about it.

"Merriam-Webster is a company, not a person all by themselves," leave it to Dick to know that. Really, half his brain must be trivia for the soul purpose of irritating teachers everywhere.

"I'll remember that," I said, laying back on the stone and sighing as the sky stretched out above my eyes. Dick shifted around and I felt the back of his skull connect with my stomach and out of the corner of my eye I saw Wally move to join us on the rock. His legs must have dangled off the stone and I felt Dick move around and clothe rustle as the Bat found himself a pillow just as I was.

"What do we do if they say we can't be heroes anymore?" I flinched at the Red heads words. I knew they had been thinking of something like that.

"Well they can't stop me, Lanterns are an independent organization from the League, and you two have had enough training that I say you could be heroes in your own right. Maybe not solo just yet, but if they try and clip you two of your rights as trained heroes we can go find Roy, dig up Kaldur and grab Superboy, form our own team maybe? If it comes down to it. We won't let them keep us from protecting people," It was more than protecting people though. Being Heroes, have Wally's speed, my flight, Kaldurs time on land and two regular humans work, it was freedom. It was knowing you could do something and then following through with it. We could do anything, anything we put our minds to as cliché as that must sound.

"Just run off and make our own team? Can we do that? What about a base, resources, money? I need food, Rob needs his equipment, same with Roy and we'd need a place to start from," I never knew Wally to be so logical in anything none scientific.

"We can. We'll figure something out for funds, as for a base of operations I know a few people who owe us enough that it wouldn't be too hard to get the materials for one. We could find a city, Blud Have or Jump City or something and set up there," Dick commented, shifting around slightly.

"It's plausible. Remember most of the league were just solo criminals not to awful long ago."

Wally hummed in agreement but I could tell he was doubtful, we all were. Dick wouldn't really go directly against Bruce and it would be hard for Wally and me to do the same with our own guardians. We could do it, really, we could, but I hoped it wouldn't come to that.

About twenty minutes later Kaldur showed up and we all chatted for another hour or so before I forced the boys off to bed. Each received a peck on the cheek or the forehead, a small custom from the planet I grew up on. The gesture wasn't romantic for us, it was meant to say something along the lines of 'good luck in the night', 'sleep well', or 'live until dawn'. They were used to it by then, so none of them really did anything, except for a juvenile comment from 'the Wall-man'.

They left, and I went home to have Hal remind me to get up in the morning.

* * *

That morning I received a text from one Bruce Wayne with a Zeta teleporter code and a set of coordinates.

It looked like the bat would keep his word.


	7. Six?

**First day of the Team, this should be interesting. **

"_Sit!" _

_The dog did not. Cathy pouted while her dog just stood there, tail wagging slowly while her darks locks were yanked back behind her head. The three year old yelped when the plastic beads at the end of the hair ties snapped against her head and her great-grandma Ruby mumbled something before finally letting her be, her curly hair pulled back as smoothly as was possible. _

"_There now, all done. Let go find your mom and show her how pretty you are," The old woman stood up from the chair she had been seated in, waiting for Cathy to join and watching the child brush off the light purple skirt. A short streak of cool-aid colored purple pulled through the strands, the handiwork of her cousin, and her dark eyes reflected the world back with innocence only a child possessed. There were several colorfully wrapped boxes in the corner of the room, near the covered rectangle of the cake Cathy and her father had put together the day before._

"_Happy birthday Great-Grandma!" Cathy sang, twirling in place before grabbing the elderly woman's hand and pulling her out the door, "Mommy said to take you to the Tree House so let's go!"_

* * *

_**Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.**_

_**George Washington**_

* * *

It was cave, wide and expansive in its open front. The Zeta transport left me tingling as I stepped forwards, looking around. Wally had made it there before me for once, and everyone was in their civvies, I myself included. I didn't bother braiding my hair today, though I managed to pull the dark brown locks back into a pony tail. It was semi cooperative today, hooray. I walked up behind the boys, standing there and looking between them to the Batman who stood before us. Hal was helping them set everything up. Wasn't this place their old base?

"This is the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League," Batman confirmed my earlier assumption and we all brought our eyes to him, "We're calling it into service again, since you five are determined to stay together to fight the good fight, you'll do it on League term. Red tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor, Black Canary will be in charge of train, _I_ will deploy you on missions."

"Real missions?" Robin asked, meeting his mentors gaze.

"Yes, but covert."

"The League will still handle the obvious stuff," we looked to Barry, turning backwards slightly, "There's a reason we have these big target on our chests."

"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter," Aquaman continued, sounding like they had rehearsed this, "Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly."

"The Six of you will be that Team," Batman finished, Hal landing beside him and looking at something behind us.

"Cool- Wait," Rob frowned, brows pinching together as the rest of us looked at each other, "Six?"

Batman's chin lifted towards the entrance of the cave and as one we turned. There was a girl walking in, green skin, red hair, amber eyes and a few freckles dotting the bridge of her nose and her cheeks. Her shirt was a white T, red X marking over the front. Blue made up her gloves, boots, and a cape that that dropped behind a skirt just a bit lighter in shade. Behind he was J'onn and they both approached. I watched her bring her left hand up to grip the space above her elbow in what was commonly a nervous gesture. She smiled at us, and it was small, almost shy.

"Martian Manhunters, Miss Martian."

"Hi," she raised her hand in greeting and the five of us exchanged looks once more. She was friendly, but I was still getting that shy vibe off of her. My younger accomplices smirked at each other, and I heard Wally tell Dick something about liking our new gig more and more before he turned and became the first of us to properly greet the Martian.

"Welcome aboard," he greeted, "I'm Kid Flash, that's Robin, Aqualad, C.G., it's cool if you forget their name." I snorted at the notion. Yes, it would be our names that were forgotten.

"I'm honored to be included," she clasped her hand together and we finally started moving, walking over to her. Or at least most of us did, Superboy stayed behind, at least until Robin waved him over and he traversed the short walk. Miss Martian looked up at him and I watched her shirt bleed black and the cape retract completely. Evidently she liked his T-shirt. The boys had a little exchange and Kaldur and I glanced at each other before I went to formally introduce myself. The Atlantean spoke truth once more.

"Today, is the day."


	8. Welcome to Happy Harbor

**Since she's a GL C.G. has responsibilities outside of earth and the Team, so sometimes she won't be on missions, especially impromptu ones. **

**On a final note I've been rewatching the first season, most recently "Terrors", which reminded me of my like for Jr. As a result I looked through FF for him and found a lovely story 'Second Chance' by Da'ink, and several stories from WriteOnForever, both of whom are wonderful authors. And that got me thinking, what if Cameron joined the Team? After Terrors of course. What do you guys think? I've got a poll set up if you want to vote, or just go ahead and let me know via Review.**

* * *

_Tiny fingers tapped down keys, bringing forth a small melody. Longer, more graceful digits moved an octave up, complimenting and guiding the younger, less experienced movements carefully. The low pitch of a clarinet encouraged them to continue and slowly the pace gained time, speeding up. _

_A smile graced Sophia's face as she looked at her husband, who smiled back, and they both looked down at their daughter. Her brows were furrowed in concentration as she looked between the paper and the board, hitting every note with care and surprising precision._

* * *

_**There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.**_

_**Leonard Cohen**_

* * *

We had been an official team for ten days. It was July the sixteenth, and I'd been called away from earth to handle some matter on Tameran. And by that I mean they were being invaded by someone and my friend Glori'an had called at four in the morning asking me to fly out and make the intruders leave. See, most Temeranians are pretty peaceful, despite the fact that they are a warrior culture they valued friendship quite a bit, and as an interplanetary dispute in my sector it was still my job to make sure it all smoothed over. The last time they had gotten into a war with the Gordanians their planet had almost been destroyed, and that wasn't something I felt like risking.

So off I flew before dawn broke, flying into space to make sure a planet didn't blow up. Sadly this happened a lot.

When I got there fighting had broken out across the majority of the planet, Tameranians flying around, shooting lasers out of their hands and throwing various sized boulders at the intruders. Jeez it was no wonder Glory made it as long as she did. It was war zone, the intruders were clearly out matched, and most of my job was actually convincing the residents not to enslave the invaders and go take over their planet.

All and all not one of the worst missions I'd ever been on.

The stars stretched out, never ending around me, flickering all around. Space was beautiful, there is no better word, and at the same time it's terrifying. If I lost power I would die. If I got lost I could float forever and never get anywhere, eternally trapped in the eternal void of darkness, and cold, and light, and fire. So yes, terrifyingly beautiful. I can only imagine how someone who doesn't have complete control over their propulsion feels out there.

I was almost eight solar systems away that day, and it was actually the seventeenth when I got back to earth. The second I hit the troposphere my phone started buzzing with missed texts, several of them from Terra and Chinmay but most of them from Wally, Dick, and Roy. Apparently the boys had gone ahead to try and recruit Roy, and had failed. According to him we were a joke, as he texted me, asking if I actually went along with the Leagues attempts to keep us occupied. Sometimes I really hated that boy. He was the only protégé that wasn't younger than me, actually he was nine months older than I was, down to the day, so I had a decent amount of respect for him. But he was so pretentious sometimes I've almost punched him before. I was going to have to have a serious talk with him soon. Even if he was right we needed a starting point, most of us weren't of age, and legally needed a guardian, which for many included our mentors. He wasn't helping anything by assuming that we weren't being taken seriously and even if we weren't we needed somewhere to begin, and the League's covert team was it for us. We would work out way up from there.

When I got to the cave it was empty. Red Tornado said that everyone had gone out with Miss Martian (whose name was apparently M'gann M'orzz) to check out her Bioship. J'orm, my Martian friend, had told me about them when we were kids, and explained that his sister(s) had had one before he was brought to Cataria with the rest of us. I had never seen one up close, but they sounded pretty cool.

I fell onto the couch, tired and prepared to sleep. It had been a long day, I had taken a nap on Tameran while the papers were being signed, but I was definitely ready to actually sleep. Unfortunately it was right around then that my phone went off, vibrating against my hip until I pulled it out, realizing it wasn't a text, but a call. From Wally.

"What's up Kid?" I asked, yawning and rolling onto my side. That couch was nice, toss a few throw pillows on and blanket and I wouldn't have minded going to sleep on it for awhile. Didn't I have an actual room here somewhere?

"Ever hear of a guy called 'Mister Twister'?" He asked, sounded blurred, and the wind caused static told me he was running. Fast. Something was wrong.

"'Mister Twister'?" I repeated, sitting up slowly, "sounds like a fan advertisement. What did you guys do?"

"What makes you think we did anything?" he snapped defensively, and I heard several shouts and loud crash from behind him.

"Because you always do something," I replied, "so what was it this time?"

"Tornado robot that isn't Red is attacking us!" He shouted, and I winced when I heard Superboy shout and what I assumed to be Robins Bird-a-Rangs explode. They didn't sound like they were doing too hot.

"I'll be there in five minutes," I stated, standing up and adjusting my ring slightly.

"Better make it three," Wally replied, and the line went dead.

* * *

I had flown out immediately, moving quickly across the sky and almost ramming head first into a camouflaged ship. It opened up and I could see a startled looking Miss Martian, sitting in what I assumed to be the pilots seat. I dropped in, landing on the floor and looking around. She was alone, and she had been flying towards the mountain.

"Where are the guys?" I asked, watching her refuse to meet my gaze. Something had definitely happened while I was gone.

"I-I messed up, I thought because Mister Twister made tornadoes he was Red Tornado, and the others almost got hurt because I assumed that it was a test. They were right, it was a rooky mistake…" she was guilty, and knowing those four they probably didn't help anything. I sighed.

"I'm going off the assumption that they yelled at you, do listen, it wasn't your fault, whatever happened, this team is still young, and we haven't worked together before, or even trained together. So it was their fault as much as yours. You shouldn't be leaving though, even if you did mess up. No one gets left behind, and leaving in the middle of a fight can get people killed. I can't stress enough how important it is to stick together," staying together had kept me alive for eight years, the fact that the boys had just thrown M'gann's mistake into her face irritated me, and they were getting an earful when I got hold of them.

"But still, I put the Team in danger," she stopped talking when I started laughing, looking somewhere between hurt and confused. I held up my hand and forced myself to stop, taking in a deep breath.

"Those boys are always getting into trouble. You know I once saw Wally try to go through a wall, hit it, bounced off, fall down a sewage hole and get attacked by genetically engineered super fish someone had flushed down? Or the time Robin tried to swing from a vine in this planetarium we got trapped in and it turned out to be a snake? Has anyone ever told you about the time I thought a wax statue was real and tried to drag it out of a collapsing building?" she was giggling by then, and I leaned against the console casually, "My point is, everyone screws up sometimes, Wally especially, so don't think too much of it."

My phone went off again and I looked down, sighing when I saw the caller ID.

"Speak of the devil. What do you say we turn this ship around and show the boys what you can do?" she hesitated a moment before nodding and smiling at me. The ship spun around and we started off, flying rapidly towards where the guys were.

"My name is M'gann by the way, M'gann M'orzz," I smiled at her and sat down in one of the seats, dimming the filter of my mask to see better and jumping slightly when an 'X' shaped belt wrapped around me.

"Catherine Grace, pleased to meet you M'gann."

* * *

The Bioship soared through the sky, Miss Martian at the controls and me standing up and preparing to jump. Red Tornado had called a little while ago and given her a small talk while I went over the information I had been given. It had definitely helped her cheer up and we had picked up speed as a result, just in time to see several tornadoes plow through the city and the boys use highly ineffective techniques in a vain attempt to stop the robot.

"Those four…" I shook my head, frowning deeply. They were so very dead when I got hold of them. Kaldur was smart, and he had more trained fighting experience than any of the guys save Dick, he should have been able to come up with something better than 'charge and hope we win'. The guy had had military training for crying out loud!

And Dick and Wally, honestly, they were supposed to be better than this. Dick was Batman's protégé, and for gods sake Wally was literally a genius when it came to science. They should have concluded by then that the outcome of doing the same thing would be the same.

We watched the fight go on, waiting for an opening and I silently hoped that that house was covered for flying boats. Wouldn't that be fun to explain to insurance agent?

"We should be getting in there," M'gann commented lowering the ship slightly while Kal tried charging with the aforementioned boats engine.

"Yep. Establish a telepathic link would you?" she looked unsure, and I briefly wondered why. J'orm was always showing off, he and Glow seemed to have some competition of who could do more half the time. But none the less I felt the formerly familiar presence of someone else in my head.

"_Listen to me, all of you," _Miss Martians voice, slightly altered, echoed into my skull and I prepared to exit the ship, stopping when Superboy snarled at her.

"_What did we tell you?!" _

"_I don't give a shit what you told her,"_ I snapped sharply, _"Because clearly whatever the Gnomes saw fit to teach you didn't include strategy. Now listen or so help me I'll leave you on the moon." _I seemed to have gotten to them because listen they did, which was something. I was still planning on hitting two of them very hard. Kaldur I would exclude, he was probably the most logical through the whole thing, and I was pretty sure hitting Superboy would break my hand so…yeah.

"_I know I messed up, but now it's very clear what we need to do," _I was almost proud to hear M'gann so confident, it was something I hadn't seen before, "_please trust me." _

They did, and when M'gann told us the plan she had formulated, on her own I might add, I was impressed. She was smart, new, but smart, and I had a feeling she would get on this team just fine.

When the boys walked off to 'sulk' and 'Tornado' took on Twister I slipped up quietly behind the android, one of robins explosives in hand. He needed to start carrying around mini EMP generators sometime, they would probably come in pretty handy.

I watched M'gann pretend to be beaten before giving up the guise. I held out a hand and Wally came in from behind, snatching the devise and spinning like a top into Twister. He hit him with the speed generated tornado and tossed the mini bomb onto his back, blowing the robot away and landing easily on the ground while I flew up and shot off three consecutive blasts with my ring. I wouldn't be running out of power this time.

My attack sent him straight into Superboy who caught hold of his arm and hit him several times, piercing the armor through on the fourth hit and throwing him to the water where Kaldur lay in wait. Less than a second under the waves Mister Twister came back out and Miss Martian picked him up with her telekinesis, ripping both arms off and holding him there while I shot again and Robin threw two separate Bird-A-Rangs, blowing off more of Twisters armor. Finally he fell to the ground, and somehow managed to get to his knees while the six of us stood before him, M'gann and I coming out of the sky. Everyone but me was in their civvies, and somewhere along the line Kaldur had shed his shirt and sandals.

Twisters chest piece opened and out fell an old man, dusty hair falling in a mop as he hit the ground face first, one piece green and white suit holding onto his form. I frowned, remembering what Tornado had said. If M'gann couldn't read his mind then he must be a robot, but that was the most human looking robot I had seen on earth.

"Foul," he pleaded, struggling to push himself up and stumbling over his words, "I call foul."

Miss Martian didn't listen, instead turning her attention to a rock and lifting her hand, bringing the rock with it and calling the stone over. I only had a minute to wonder what she was doing when Kaldur figured it out and reached out for the Martian girl, shouting at her not to when she smashed it down. Right on the old man's head.

Oh. Apparently the boys didn't get the memo of Twister being a robot, because they flipped their shit entirely, horrified looks appearing on all of their faces. It was Dick that confronted her while I bit back a sigh, letting Miss Martian explain. Didn't they ever listen?

"Don't know how things are done on mars," the boy wonder stated, walking forward as his voice raised in pitch and tone, "but on earth we don't _execute _our captives!" They didn't on mars either, in case you were wondering.

"You said you trust me," M'gann reminded him, lifting the rock and revealing the broken up circuitry of the former bad guy, "that's why I couldn't read his mind," she sounded irritated, and rightfully so.

I watched Wally walk over, crouching down and picking up an eye ball and proclaim it a souvenir. His habits were weird, let me tell you. The only reason he hadn't taken something from Cadmus was because we got Superboy.

"We should have had more faith in you," Aqualad amended, placing a hand on Miss Martians shoulder and smiling apologetically.

"Yeah, you rocked this mission," Wally agreed, and I had to groan at the lame joke. Barry was rubbing off on his nephew.

"Ignore him," Robin advised, "we're all just turbed you're on the team."

"Thanks," M'gann replied, apparently understanding the boys inexplicable need to dismantle the English language, "me too."

* * *

It wasn't too long after we won that everyone returned the cave, filling me in on the days earlier activities and giving me a chance to yank Wally's ear off and give Dick a sound hit in the head for their earlier transgressions.

Once we reached the cave Tornado had greeted us and we ended up gathered around a table in the open area by the Zeta tubes, explaining what had been going on through the short, unscheduled mission. The robots parts lay scattered out in front of us, its feet the only thing still intact enough to prop themselves up.

"This thing was clearly designed to either destroy or sabotage you," Kaldur told tornado, and the android agreed. When M'gann asked if that was why he hadn't helped us the robot shook his head.

"No, it was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you, nor should you solve mine for me," Robin and Wally looked up from where they had been inspecting the holoscreens that displayed Twisters stats, seeming surprised. It was huge different from what the older heroes usually did, normally trying to hold our hands the entire time, even Batman and Hal.

"But if you're in danger," before she could finish Tornado cut Megan(that was her earth name. Why is it all the Megan's I know are red heads?) off, dismissing her concern.

"Batman, Aquaman, Green Lantern and Flash would have jumped right in to fix things," Wally commented, straightening up from his former crouch.

"Guess if we're gonna have a babysitter a heartless machine is exactly what we need," Robin concluded, leading to Wally looking surprised and commenting on his harshness and my promptly hit him in the gesturing arm, hearing him yelp when I made contact and when Red explained that he does have a heart. But it must have been pretty cold if it was a Carbon Steel alloy.

"I also have excellent hearing," the robot continued, and were he capable I was sure he would have looked at least a little smug.

"Right, sorry," the Boy Wonder muttered, "next time I'll try to be more accurate."

"And more respectful," Kaldur stated, placing a hand on the youngest boys shoulder and leaning down to his level.

"Speedy was so wrong about this," I looked over at KF, remembering I needed to kick the archer for his doubts sometime.

"This Team thing,"

"Might just work out."

Apparently Aqualad was making a habit out of completing Robins sentences. Go figure.


	9. News!

**Okay so starting tomorrow is finals week, which means one of two things.**

**A) I will either be updating a lot because I write to procrastinate on my studying.**

**or**

**B) I won't be updating at all because I'm in a panicked frenzy over studying. **

**So this isn't an actual update, but while you wait I would appreciate any feedback you want to give me, and if you have the time to vote in my polls that would be great as well. I should get back to my normal habits by the first week of January, when school sets back in, and Christmas break I won't even try to guarantee anything. You might see some christmas fillers though, but who knows! **

**So yeah, that's about it. And if I don't get to say it later, I'll say it now. **

**Merry Christmas!**


	10. Christmas Special

**Christmas time is here at last~ **

**Quick Christmas update, hope you like it.**

* * *

_Christmas light twinkled merrily on the silver tinsel of the snow that blanketed the ground, throwing off multi-colored lights in various directions. The plastic Santa stood silent vigil over the house, white wire reindeer grazing close by and glowing bright silver in the Maine winter. _

_Within the house was a large family, a mother and a father with their daughter sitting by a fireplace on the floor. Two sets of grandparents and an elderly woman. The young girl, the only grandchild of the only son and the only surviving daughter, lay curled up between her parents, eyes shut and breathing softly. _

_Tomorrow she would wake to gifts and joy._

* * *

_**Christmas is one of those holidays that is all about light. It's spiritually illegal to have any darkness in it.**_

* * *

My first Christmas on earth happened about eight days after I got to the blue planet. Hal was still busy with getting some place for us to live and figure out a way to get legalized adoption papers (though unbeknownst to him the bat had already gotten them) and had been dragged to a Christmas party by Carol anyway so he didn't have time to do anything with me then. J'onn had gone back to Mars to spend the season with his family, Wonder Woman was staying on the watch tower, and while Barry had offered to take me to Christmas with him it was ultimately Clark that got stuck with me. Bruce had suggested that since the society I had come from was so far from the bustle of a city it would be a good idea for me to go to a smaller town first. I initially wanted to spend it on the watch tower with Diana and whoever else happened to be around the floating hunk of rock at the time. So to Kansas I went.

When we arrived everything was coated in a dense layer of snow, the farm house, the barn, and every car I had seen on the quick flight from the Zeta site to the Kent's house. We landed and I hid behind Clarks much larger figure, burdened with two large boxes to my one small one, allowing my suite to vanish back into my ring while the Kryptonian adjusted his civilian clothes. The door opened suddenly, letting light spill out onto the porch and hitting me directly in the eyes. It was a good thing that Bruce had arranged things earlier and I had been given a pair of sun glasses or it would have been highly unpleasant at the time. But as I watched the Kent's pulled their son, who hulked above their heads, down far enough they could hug him and welcome him home. The couple released their adoptive son and turned to me and I suddenly felt very self-conscious.

_What if they don't like me? What if they were only letting me come to be polite to Clark? What if I'm being a bother? What if they only have enough food for themselves and I'm being a burden?_

If you have ever met Ma and Pa Kent you know I was an idiot. And .5 seconds after I made eye contact with Martha I realized how stupid I was as well.

"You must be Catherine," a warm smile lit Ma's face and she stepped forward, taking my arm and tugging me into the welcoming warmth of the house, "come on in, Clark said you would be coming with him this year. How old are you dear?"

"I'm twelve ma'am," or at least that was the popular assumption. I should have been twelve around that time, give or take a birthday.

"You're so polite, welcome to our home. Clark said you were from space?" I found myself sitting down on a soft couch next to Mrs. Kent with Clark in his own chair, as well Mr. Kent sitting in an ottoman.

"That's right," I nodded my head, clasping my hands in front of me. It had been a very long time since I had had more interaction that that of my Lemyoire, my pack I suppose humans might say, and it was just the five of us for six years strait, plus our three Aiora, our teachers. So at the time one might say my social skills were absolute shit. I almost punched Kilowag the first time I met him his foreign manners scared me so much. Beasts I could take on. People? Not on your life.

But Martha and Jonathan Kent had an odd way of knowing what to say to get a person to relax and make them feel welcome, for the most part so did Clark, and It wasn't long before I ended up explaining quite a bit of what I had had happen to me on Cataria. I told them about Chirome, the two feast days we used to celebrate solstices, and about how strange earth was compared to the place of my upbringing.

It was amazing. The house was warmer than anywhere I had been in close to a decade, even Oa wasn't as comfortable as the Kent house was. Though it is a planet wide military base so that might have something to do with it. The food was fantastic, and Martha insisted I stay for new years as well since it didn't look like Hal was getting anywhere on his house hunt.

So I did, I spent nearly a week at that house all and all and I learned several things.

1) There are no kinder people than the Kents.

2) You did not anger Martha. Ever.

3) You will find no better apple pie anywhere on earth.

I went back there during spring and summer breaks to see them, and Hal and I both went for thanksgiving. And every year I go there for Christmas, if not for the night then for at least dinner or if I really need to rush just to drop off their presents and talk for a few minutes. But I was always there, every Christmas at the Kent's house.


End file.
